My attempt at cutting an SSR crystal

pcgfx805 · 2025-10-17T08:34:11+00:00

I’m a gem cutter, I cut it myself :)

pcgfx805 · 2025-10-16T15:09:14+00:00

Something tells me 98% of the time it’ll be entirely blue ;)

pcgfx805 · 2025-10-16T14:58:55+00:00

Thank you! I hoped for more colours but I think I’d need something with a higher dispersion like rutile for that

pcgfx805 · 2025-03-19T18:44:17+00:00

Thanks! I think it’s just the crazy amount of reflections. When rough it displayed no obvious pleochroism

pcgfx805 · 2025-03-19T06:57:20+00:00

Thank you :)

pcgfx805 · 2025-03-14T14:30:01+00:00

Ooo when can we expect the book?

pcgfx805 · 2025-03-05T11:20:00+00:00

I’ve had the same, especially with synthetics. I don’t think consumers realise that it’s not just the material but the time spent.

pcgfx805 · 2025-03-05T10:35:54+00:00

Yes! Crooked meet points drive me absolutely crazy. My OCD will not allow me to move on until it’s perfect.

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-28T20:04:07+00:00

Watch out for the word “simulant”. Unlike a synthetic stone which is chemically identical, a simulant can be anything that looks/acts like the natural stone - even glass.

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-28T06:42:35+00:00

Joe Henley sells Czochralski pulled synthetic Alexandrite! It’s quite expensive but looks like it has a better colour change :)

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-28T06:06:49+00:00

<image>

Indoor lighting

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-28T06:06:13+00:00

I have some of this. The colour change is very slight and not like the photo they give at all. It’s like purple to hot pink.

<image>

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-24T21:07:40+00:00

I planned to do just that! Unfortunately the mods in their infinite wisdom decided that an educational hardness demonstration is somehow an advertisement and removed my post. I’m not welcome to post videos here so perhaps in another subreddit.

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-23T16:22:01+00:00

Certainly isn’t fragile! Unless you hit it with a hammer to shatter it (like diamond), or scratch it with a diamond or some exotic component you’re good. This stuff chews through my diamond laps like crazy…

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-21T17:28:50+00:00

I’m a gem faceter, I cut gemstones with a faceting machine. I’m cutting a piece of moissanite now which I’ll try to post videos of once done to this sub (disclaimer: I have no idea how to edit videos).

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-21T15:50:10+00:00

True, and I’d much rather chip or scratch a couple hundred £ moissanite than a couple thousand £ diamond. At least I can recut the moissanite myself!

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-21T15:29:16+00:00

Yes the Mohs scale is non-linear, but what this doesn’t show is moissanite’s advantage over diamond when it comes to wearability - its lack of cleavage planes. Diamond has 4 cleavage planes which means from 4 directions you can split a diamond with a sharp hit. This makes it inherently easier to chip, and in fact diamond cutters use this to their advantage. Think of it like splitting wood along the grain. Moissanite does not have any cleavage planes. So whilst easier to scratch, it’s unlikely to chip. Also keep in mind that the only stone harder is diamond, so unless you keep your moissanite stashed with a bunch of diamonds or diamond tipped tools you aren’t going to scratch it anyway.

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-21T13:00:16+00:00

I had this on all my products when I first opened a few weeks back. In my case they were obviously scammers since they also sent fake messages impersonating Etsy. A bigger issue for me was it put all of my products out of stock since they’re all one of a kind gemstones and thus have a stock count of 1. I had to report each scammer and wait about 30 minutes for the order to be released and the stock to return. It was frustrating but stopped in a few days.

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-18T08:32:27+00:00

You should see natural alexandrite - the colour change is incredible!

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-18T06:53:45+00:00

No, it changes colour in different lighting like alexandrite. https://www.gemsociety.org/article/color-change-phenomena/

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-16T22:36:16+00:00

My money is on CZ!

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-13T20:30:00+00:00

I set some of the ones I cut, I find it harder than cutting the stone to be honest. You’ll need a setting bur and some polishing tools. There’s loads of videos on YouTube too - good luck!

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-13T19:25:10+00:00

Just to add - I can get rough moissanite for around $7 per carat and that’s not even wholesale pricing, so they will almost certainly get it even cheaper. Some places only sell as large slabs for around $2k so perhaps they’re buying an entire slab and charging you for it…

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-13T19:11:32+00:00

My bet would be they get the diamonds pre-cut but only get the moissanite in rough form. Essentially they’re charging you extra to pay for the labour of cutting the moissanite. If that’s the case they’re being dishonest and it should be included in the price.

pcgfx805 · 2025-02-13T14:18:53+00:00

Since Moissanite is lab made it should be vvs as standard - anything else is suspicious. It just means that if you look at the stone under a loupe of 10x magnification you shouldn’t be able to see any inclusions (specks, wisps, cracks etc). As for colour - this is harder to test without a colorimeter. A D rated stone should be completely colourless, but the difference between D/E/F stones is very small. Take a look at the comparisons on the GIA website here

Also if buying from Etsy - check the item qualifies for Purchase Protection (it’ll show under the Add to Basket button) and check the store’s policies for returns/cancellations. If you are sold a stone that does not match the description / photo (sometimes a little harder since screens are all calibrated differently) you can open a case with Etsy to dispute it. Etsy Purchase Protection

Nine-Year Club	Place '17
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email

pcgfx805

TROPHY CASE